MOLLY BARTELS / Courier & Press Archives
"Normally the whole field is green and the vines are so thick that you can't hardly walk through the field," said Larry Goebel, center, as he looks over his pumpkin patch in Evansville on Aug. 3. "And this year you can barely see that there's anything out here." Goebel who owns Goebel Farms with his wife, Susan, had to replant the field in late July due to the drought and still hopes to harvest pumpkins in mid to late September. The Goebels have been growing pumpkins since 1969.

KEVIN SWANK / Courier & Press Archives
Corn growing in a field on Anderson Road in Warrick County shows the effects of the lack of rain and heat on July 5.

Kevin Swank, The Evansville Courier & Press

Michael Conroy / Associated Press Archives
In this July 5 file photo, a dock extends into a dry cove at Morse Reservoir in Noblesville, Ind., as oppressive heat and drought conditions stifled the middle of the United States. In 2012 many of the warnings scientists have made about global warming went from dry studies in scientific journals to real-life experience. One example: July was the hottest month in record-keeping U.S. history.

KEVIN SWANK / Courier & Press Archives
Due to the heat and drought, these signs were seen on the State Hospital Grounds in Evansville on July 18.

Kevin Swank, The Evansville Courier & Press

MOLLY BARTELS / Courier & Press Archives
Tim Bell, owner of Turf Management, works on an irrigation valve for a system he recently installed at a home in the Ellington Ridge subdivision in Evansville on June 15. A lack of rain made it harder to dig and install the system.

ERIN McCRACKEN / COURIER & PRESS Archives
Jorge Basulto, employee of Meadowbriar Stables, throw bales of hay into the pastures for the horses evening grazing on June 26. The drought has caused the stable to have to rely on hay to feed the horses, rather than grass which they graze on during the summer months. Stable owner Kim Gundry, is having to dip into her winter stockpile of hay and order more, which is in short supply to feed the 30 horses in her barns.

MOLLY BARTELS / Courier & Press Archives
"We've got about 12,000 trees and will probably lose about 5,000 to the drought. Many of those will be the small trees," said Larry Goebel, right, who looks over recently planted trees that were killed by the drought at Goebel Farms in Evansville on Aug. 3.

EVANSVILLE - Severe drought conditions still exist in some western Corn Belt states such as Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota, and while the drought that began in 2012 is ongoing, the possibility is good that Indiana and other eastern corn producing states will have a wetter year, according to agricultural experts.

"The forecast looks good for moisture in the eastern Corn Belt this winter," said Chris Hurt, an agricultural economist at Purdue University. "The Evansville area could have a more normal year."

That's good news for Indiana farmers whose crops and livelihoods were ravaged by severe drought last year. Farmers in more western states are still dealing with severe drought conditions, Hurt said.

Unlike previous years, there is no single controlling factor governing this winter's weather, said Kenneth Scheeringa, assistant state climatologist for Indiana.

He said while November was dry and December was generally warmer than normal for much of the state, that recent winter storms have already brought significant moisture.

"We won't stay on one thing very long. It's not one persistent thing controlling the climate. If you don't like what you've got just wait, it will change," Scheeringa said.

Summer 2012 was a harsh one for farmers. During 10 days in late June and early July, temperatures in Evansville surpassed 100 almost every day, setting record highs on many of those days.

Those scorching conditions came at the worst possible time, Hurt said. An early, wet spring delayed planting just enough that most corn was pollinating in July when the drought was at its zenith.

"If the heat kills the pollen you don't get seeds," Hurt said. "You never know if it is going to be a dry year until after the year or at least the planting date."

Indiana farmers produced 73 bushels of corn per acre last year compared to a normal yield of 165 bushels per acre, he said. That was just 44 percent of the normal yield.

Soybeans proved more drought-resistant but were still down, producing 39 bushels per acre compared to the normal 46 bushels, Hurt said.

While it is difficult to predict what will happen with climate and crops in the new year, the effects of last year's drought will be felt far into 2013, for both farmers and consumers.

Some of those effects are already being felt, such as increased prices of products made from soybeans and corn such as cooking oil, salad dressings and those containing high fructose corn syrup.

Hurt said those prices will begin to come down in late summer or early fall with the arrival of new crops. However, animal product prices — particularly beef — will feel the impact of the drought into 2015, he said.

With feed more scarce, farmers are forced to reduce their herd sizes in the wake of droughts. Even though they may begin to grow their herd sizes coming out of a drought, it will take several years before that growth affects supply again, Hurt said.

Hurt said he anticipates more farmers will take advantage of crop insurance this year to help moderate the effects of the possibility of continuing drought. As much as 25 percent of Indiana's corn and soybean acreage was not covered by crop insurance last year, he said.

Crop insurance, created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered by private companies, works similar to Medicare and offers protection against the loss of income associated with crop loss.

"I think everyone will re-examine crop insurance," Hurt said. "The drought has had a very big impact on some incomes."